November 30, 2018

Cub Scout Pack 805 helps to make a difference in the community

Cub Scout Pack 805

By Matt
Pascarella

Saturday,
November 17 was no typical Saturday at Shaw’s supermarket in North Windham. On
that day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Cub Scout Pack 805 collected over 1,200 community
donated non-perishable food items. This included items like toiletries, shampoo
and toothpaste as well as raising $364 for the Windham Food Pantry.

The cub
scouts handed incoming customers a flyer with items the Windham Food Pantry was
looking for and customers would drop off their donations on their way out. “We
did more than what we anticipated we’d be doing; which is just amazing and
shows the support of the community,” commented Sarah DiDonato, Tiger Den
Leader.

Tony
Sweet, Cub Master for Pack 805 explained that they did this last year and this
year was more successful with more people giving. While they don’t set a goal,
they do aim to do a little better than the previous year. In 2017, the pack
filled six carts worth of non-perishable food items and toiletries. This year,
they almost doubled that, filling 11 shopping carts with food and non-food
items, along with raising $364 for the Windham Food Pantry.

“For
Pack 805, this is really big for us,” explains Sweet. “It’s definitely a way
for us to give back and we all love doing it.” This food will be able to help a
lot of different people. When Sweet looks at all the boxes of food collected,
he cannot believe it.

“I feel
much better knowing I have as much as I do,” commented Colette Gagnon, Social
Services Administrative Assistant in charge of the Windham Food Pantry and the
Windham Clothes Closet. She explained she used a lot of the donation for
Christmas dinners and some for Thanksgiving baskets which feed approximately
400 people. Gagnon also mentioned that the donations really helped families
looking for last minute donations.

“This
was a great opportunity for the food pantry to give families a really happy
Thanksgiving,” remarks Gagnon.

“People
who are less fortunate...should be able to get food and be able to feed their
families. I feel like that makes their day when they get food from the food
pantry,” said AJ Sweet, Bear Den member and third grader.

Next
month, Pack 805 plans to do a toy drive, so stay tuned for details.